Welcome To The Family
by Shyre
Summary: Dillon never knew his father. But when the young muggle boy receives a letter from Hogwarts and gets to the school, some of the students do not fail to recognize his resemblance to their favorite dragon taming uncle. My first ever fan fiction :
1. Chapter 1

The first question young Dillon Allaway could remember asking to his single mother was, "Who is my dad?" to which she would always reply, "It does not matter who your father is. You have me, and I have the love of a hundred parents!" She would always follow that up with a giant hug and maybe a rather large helping of ice cream. Around age 8, Dillon came to realize that maybe his loving mother did not know who his father was. He barely understood what that might mean, and just shrugged and moved on with life. He had never had a father, nor needed one. His mother had always provided everything he needed in life. She did not need a partner to raise him.

Colleen Allaway loved her son. Anyone that knew her could tell you this on a heartbeat. Dillon came first in her life. Colleen ran a successful in home business as a photographer, and that provided enough income to support her and her son. As well, it ensured she could always be near her Dillon.

Dillon was 11 now, and could not be happier. He had a wonderful mother, and the best friends a boy could ask for. But for now, it was the weekend, and he was alone at home for the time being while he mother was out getting groceries. Colleen had only recently let Dillon stay home alone while she went shopping. He hated having to be dragged along with his mother every time she had to go somewhere. He was a big kid, he could stay home on his own without mucking the house up. Dillon repeated this to himself as he quickly tried scrubbing up the bit of Popsicle he let fall onto the kitchen tiles. He thanked the Gods when finally the red spot was gone. That little obstacle taken care of, he sank onto the couch and flipped on the television.

These times when he was alone, without his mother around, is when Dillon would give in to thinking about his unknown father. Dillon looked around the walls, at all the family pictures of him with his mom, grandparents, and cousins. He looked nothing like any of them, and he knew it had to be because of his father. Everyone on his moms side of the family had dark hair and usually brown eyes. Dillon stood out like the sun in the pictures, with his pale, freckled skin, bright red hair, and brilliant blue eyes. Dillon liked being different from everyone else in his family. It was a constant reminder that somewhere, he might possibly have an entire other family, and that thought excited him. He never let his mother know these thoughts though. As much as he loved the idea of someday finding the other half of his family, he was perfectly content and happy with his life as it was. He wouldn't change a thing.

The front door banged open, signaling the return of Dillon's mother. Dillon hopped off the sofa to help her bring in the groceries.

"Check the mail while you are out there would you Dillon?" Colleen asked of her son as she passed him on the way to the kitchen. Dillon made a noise that Colleen knew meant he heard her.

Dillon glanced in the trunk of his mother's car, and only saw 3 more bags. His mom could get those, if he went and got the mail. And the mail would weigh much less, so he left the last few bags to his mother and went down the driveway to the mail box instead. Dillon flipped through the mail, the majority of it being for his mother. Dillon did get random mail once in a while. Most was from the couple of magazines he was subscribed to, so he did not give much thought to the 2 things in the mail for him. He did not get a chance look at them right away because his mother made him help put the groceries she had just bought away. As soon as that was done, both mother and son sat down at the kitchen table to go through their mail.

Dillon set aside his magazine he had just gotten and picked up the other piece of mail addressed to him. He now appreciated how odd it was. The thick envelope was addressed to him in swishy writing in green ink. On the back, it was sealed with a weird wax symbol. Who still used those? Curious, he broke the seal and tore it open. 2 pieces of thick, yellowish parchment came out, written in the same swishy green ink. Dillon read through it, eyebrows raised, then snorted.

Colleen heard her son snort and looked up from a piece of her own mail. "What is it?" she asked.

"This, have any idea what it is?" Dillon asked handing her the sheets of parchment. Colleen read through them, her eyebrows doing the same thing Dillons had done a few moments before.

"Not a clue. Must be one of your friends," Colleen suggested, "they are the only ones that would know our address,"

"Yeah, but none of them have this nice of handwriting. And where would they get this weird paper?" Dillon said, looking at the second sheet of paper. "No way any of them are this creative anyways,"

"Well, I don't see any other explanation," Colleen gathered her mail up and stood up from the table, "What do you want for lunch?"

Dillon's mind was still on the strange letter in front of him and he mumbled, "don't care," as he too gathered up his mail and went up to his room. As much as he thought about how amazing it would be if this letter was real, how could it be? Witches and Wizards, really cool, but completely ridiculous. Even Dillon, with his slightly over active imagination, knew it was all make-believe. None the less, Dillon kept the strange letter, putting it in a shoe box that he kept every letter he had ever received.

The next morning, Dillon had put the strange letter completely out of his mind, instead thinking about his mother's birthday, which was that day. Dillon had set his alarm clock to 7AM, much earlier than he normally awoke. He quietly made his way downstairs into the kitchen and gathered ingredients to make his annual pancake breakfast for his amazing mother. Dillon was a pretty good cook, for being so young, and enjoyed it. He hummed happily to himself as he mixed up the batter, a special mix his Grandma Karen had taught him that his mother loved, and poured it onto the large pan. He grabbed one of the nicest plate and cleanest glass he could find and set everything he had made, plus a glass of orange juice, onto a tray and carefully carried the whole setup up the stairs to his mother's room. Without knocking, he slowly opened the door to his mom's room, and stood next to the bed.

"Mum," Dillon whispered, smiling. No response. "Mum!" He said a slightly louder, kicking the bed a little bit. Colleen mumbled and rolled over, opening her eyes and smiling up at her son. "Happy Birthday Mum!" Dillon beamed down at his mother, who rubbed her eyes and tried in vain to tame her wild bed head. She sat up and allowed Dillon to place the tray on her lap.

"Thank you sweeheart!" Colleen grinned, hugging her sun and placing a loving kiss on his cheek.

"No problem," Dillon grinned. He loved doing things for his mother, making her happy. "you enjoy this, and I'm going to go clean up my mess downstairs," Colleen smiled and gave Dillon another kiss before he departed.

Dillon was in the middle of scraping a pan clean when he heard a light tapping. He paused and lifted his heard, trying to pinpoint the noise. It didn't stop. He set the pan in the soapy water and dried his hands, turning to try and find the source of the tapping. He walked into the living room and found the strangest site he had ever seen; a small brown owl was at the window, pecking at the glass with it's beak. Confused, Dillon walked over to the window and opened it. The bird flew in and landed on the back of the sofa, holding out it's leg, where he saw was an envelope identical to one he had received yesterday. He cautiously untied it. As soon as he did, the owl flew away through the still open window.

Dillon stared at the letter in his hands. He tore it open only to discover it merely repeated what was in the previous letter. He heard his mother coming downstairs and quickly shoved the letter into his pocket and hurried back into the kitchen.

"That was wonderful Dillon, thank you!" Colleen gave her son another peck on the cheek and set the tray on the counter, "don't worry about that, I'll get it later," she added, stretching and heading towards the living room to no doubt watch the morning news. Dillon followed her.

"Why is the window open?" she asked after a gust of warm morning wind blew in.

"Oh, sorry, I'll close it," Dillon hastily went over and shut the window.

"Why did you open it?"

Dillon mumbled a response that his mother did not understand and asked him to repeat it.

"Sorry, did you say owl?" Colleen asked unsure she heard her son right.

"Yeah, you know, those big birds that fly around at night," Dillon flapped his arms like wings, immediately stopping at realizing how silly he must look.

"But what does that have to do with opening the window?"

"Well, it wanted it in,"

"An owl...wanted in? How do you know?"

"Well, it was tapping the window,"

"And you let it in?"

"Yeah, it had a letter,"

"A letter?"

Dillon nodded and pulled out the crumpled letter in his pocket, handing it to his mother.

"Quit being silly, this is just the one you got yesterday," Colleen laughed, thinking her son was just playing around with her.

"Yeah, I know! Weird right? I still have the other one upstairs," Dillon stuck is thumb up at the ceiling.

"You mean this is a new one?" Colleen asked throughly confused, "And it came by an owl?"

Dillon nodded enthusiastically "And I'm not sick mum!" he added, reading his mothers thoughts. But Colleen seemed to be deep in thought and not listening to her son. Dillon stood in front of her and looked her in they eyes. "You okay mum?"

Colleen seemed to snap back to the current moment and said, "Oh yes! I'm fine dear, I was just thinking about something,"

"Thinking about what?" Dillon asked curious.

Colleen sighed and looked at her son closely with loving eyes. "Sit down," she instructed. When Dillon did so, she took a deep breathe, "I think it's time to tell you what little I know about your father," Dillions eyes lit up and Colleen knew he had a load of questions forming in his might but she put a finger up to stop them from spilling forth, "Shh, I don't know much, I'm sorry. I don't even know his name, to be honest. I was young, and wondering around London for the first time on my own. I was trying to get somewhere, I don't even remember where anymore, so I walked into this tavern, The Leaky something. When I walked in there, well I wish I hadn't, they had the weirdest sorts of people there. I didn't get a good look, just then a young man stepped in front of me, but I could still feel many pairs of eyes on me still.

" 'Can I help you?' he asked, leading me quickly out the door back into the street. I told him I was trying to get where ever it was I was trying to get to. He smiled and told me that he knew the way, and if I would like company, he could escort me. I told him that would be lovely. I couldn't say no to those eyes, and that smile. Your eyes, and your smile. You look just like him, you know?

"Well, we had a very pleasant conversation walking through London. By the time I knew where I was and where I needed ago, it was dinner time and I heard his stomach make this terrible noise. We were standing right next to this nice little deli, so I asked him if he would like to join me for a bite to eat. He agreed. We had a lovely dinner. And well, things led from there, things you _are_ to young to hear about," Dillon made a face and Colleen just smiled, moving on with the story, "Well we spent the night at a hotel, oh yes! That's where I was trying to go, my hotel. Anyways, the next morning I was awoken by a light tapping on the window. Your father got up and opened the window and an owl flew in! I thought I was dreaming. He took a rolled up piece of paper from it's leg and it flew off. He read it quickly and then apologized over and over again, saying he had to leave and that it was an emergency. And with that, he was gone, and I never saw him again,"

Dillon stared at his mother, mouth slightly open, "That's all you know?" he asked, not bothering to hide his slight disappointment. Colleen smiled sadly and patted his head saying,

"Afraid so. But you see, I never gave much thought to the owl showing up that morning, I was so shocked and confused by his sudden departure. That was, till just now, when you mentioned an owl brought you this letter. Call me foolish, but," she hesitated, debating whether she really wanted to say what was on her mind.

"Go on Mum," Dillon encouraged.

"Well, I always kind of thought the entire situation was a bit magical, that he was a bit magical. And now you get this letter, talking about a magic school..." She drifted off, letting her words sink into her son who looked so very much like his unknown father.

"You, you think it could be real?" Dillon asked glancing at the letter once more.

"The world is full of things we don't understand," Colleen said softly, "no one can know all of the world secrets. What right do we have to say something does not exist?" Dillon just shrugged his shoulders.

"How are we suppose to reply?" he asked looking for a return address somewhere within the letter, the thought that his mother was crazy not even crossing his mind.

Before Colleen could reply there was a light tapping noise at the window once more. Both people looked up to see the same owl that had delivered the owl standing their eying them curiously. Dillon instantly went to let it in, smiling widely. "I guess, this is how we reply," Colleen nodded in a sort of finality to the situation.

"Go get me a piece of paper and a pen," Colleen asked Dillon who rushed off to do so. He returned seconds later with the asked of items. Colleen quickly scribbled a not and then attatched it to the owls leg, who held it out obediently. The moment the paper was tied, the owl flew off with a hoot.

"What did you write?" Dillon asked

"Just said okay, and any assistance would be helpful...do you think it's real Dil?" Colleen asked in a tone that clearly thought she just might off gone off her rocker.

"Yeah" Dillion responded with a brilliant smile, "I think it's all fantastic! It has to be true. No other way to explain the owls is it?"

Colleen smiled, wondering what this could possibly mean for their future.


	2. Chapter 2

Dillon spend most of the day by the window, letting excitement flood through him every time he saw a bird in the sky, only to sigh sadly when we saw it was just an ordinary bird, not an owl carrying more messages from a world he only just learned might exist. As much as he wanted to believe in a magical world, his mind wouldn't let him fully accept it yet.

"Dillon, come away from that window and set the table," Colleen, his mother called from the kitchen where she was busy over the stove cooking her favorite chicken and rice dish. Her son sighed with a last look out the window and went to get dishes out of the cupboard to set the table for him and his mother.

Trying to distract himself from thinking about owls and magical schools Dillon asked, "So, what do you want to do tonight for your birthday Mum?"

"I think sitting on front of the television with some cake sounds wonderful," Colleen said. She did not really feel like leaving the house for any unnecessary reason at the moment. She, like Dillon was rather anxious about this whole wizard deal. Something in her heart told her not to dismiss this, though her head told her she was insane.

They are in silence, both just wishing this wait for answers would end. As though reading their minds, a knock on the front door brought them both back to the present and Colleen got up to answer it, Dillon right behind her. Colleen opened the door and their stood a young smiling woman in a gray businesslike trench coat.

The woman held out her hand and said, "Good evening Miss Allaway, I'm Miss Natasha Hobbes, from the Department of Muggle Relations at the Ministry of Magic. I have come to talk to you about your son, Dillon," Colleen shook Miss Hobbes hand, a little stunned. Was this a witch then? Coming back to her senses she said,

"Yes, please come in, and call me Colleen," She took the guests coat and hung it up on the coat rack. When she turned back around she saw the woman was wearing sleek, clean black robes with beautiful light blue detailing and a golden emblem on the chest. Colleen motioned for the other woman to follow and led her to the living room where they all sat, Dillon barely hiding the fact that he was staring at this woman in wonder.

"Miss Hobbes," Colleen said slowly, choosing her words carefully, "forgive me but, I feel like I might be losing my mind. Do you have any proof of, well, magic I suppose, exists?"

Miss Hobbes smiled kindly. "I understand. This can be a shock for muggles, non magical folk, to hear and believe at first. I can, if you would like, demonstrate,"

"You can do magic?" Dillon piped up from the arm chair he was sitting in.

Miss Hobbes smiled and nodded. She took out her wand, chuckling at how wide Dillon's eyes got. She waved her wand and a vase of flowers appeared and drifted to a space on one of the end tables. "They will never die, so long as you keep them in that vase," she told Colleen, whose eye's were now as wide as her sons.

"Thats amazing," Colleen whispered.

"So, am I a wizard? Is that why I got those letters?" Dillon asked.

"Indeed it is!" Miss Hobbes confirmed. "What I'm here for is to answer any questions you have, because I am sure you have many, and assist you in anyway possible."

"So I get a wand?" Dillon added looking at Miss Hobbes wand that was still in her hand.

"In time you will yes,"

"When?" Dillon asked not bothering to hide how anxious he was.

Miss Hobbes laughed and said, "Whenever we arrange for the two of you to go to Diagon Ally, at which point you will get all of your school supplies. That is of course, if your mother agrees to let you attend Hogwarts," She looked over at Colleen to judge her reaction.

"Well, I can't really deny him what sounds like the opportunity of a lifetime can I?" Colleen stated looking at her son with sad eyes, "And I suppose that is where he belongs. I can't keep him here forever if it's not where he belongs."

"Wise words Colleen," Miss Hobbes said to the older woman.

"So, I'm really doing this?" Dillon asked.

"You almost have too, it seems,"

"Yes, untrained magic is very dangerous. It could burst out strongly at points of high emotional strain," Miss Hobbes informed them, "It's essential that he get the proper training,"

"What," Dillon began, clearly nervous, "what if I get there, and it turns out I can't do magic?"

"Do not worry dear. The enrollment list does not lie. Your name was on the list, so you are a wizard,"

They all sat their in silence. Miss Hobbes let them mull over some of the information she had given them. She then decided to get on with business. "We will need to set a date to go get all of his school supplies. I will accompany you and explain everything you need to know, help you exchange money such. I would suggest getting this done as soon as possible,"

"I won't be free until next weekend," Colleen said mentally checking her schedule.

"Then is fine for me. Fine for you Dillon?"

"Um, yes?" Dillon was wondering why she would think he had important plans. He was only 11 after all.

"Okay then, next Saturday then?" Miss Hobbes asked, "How's 11 o'clock?"

"That's fine," Colleen agreed with a nod.

"Is their any questions you have right now?"

Colleen hesitated, "Um, yes. I don't know if you can answer it though,"

"I can try," said Miss Hobbes.

"Well, I'm assuming that his father is responsible for Dillon here being a, wizard," Colleen struggled a bit with the word, "actually I'm almost positive. But see, I don't know who his father is, and I was wondering if you had someway of finding out, with all your magic," she looked at Miss Hobbes hopefully, as did Dillon.

Miss Hobbes looked at Dillon closely, then back at Colleen, sad understanding in her eyes, "If I knew anything, it would not be my place to say it. But just a personal input, I would encourage Dillon to look into it. Our community is not that large, it shouldn't be too hard to track him down"

Colleen seemed a little put out but nodded and said, "I understand. So, Saturday at 11?"

"Yes," Miss Hobbes confirmed standing, summoning her coat from the front hall. "It was nice meeting both of you," she held out her hand for both Colleen and Dillon to shake. With a last smile and a slight bow, she stuck out her wand, turned, and with a pop was gone.

Dillon giggled, wide eyed, "Awesome." Colleen merely nodded. Dillon, sensing his mothers emotions, which tended to come out strongly, went over and kissed her cheek. "Don't worry mum. I won't leave you, not for good. Just think of it as one of those private schools you wanted me to get into. I would have had to stay there too,"

"Oh I know dear. Still doesn't mean I won't miss you," Colleen wrapped her arms tightly around her son.

"I'll write okay?"

"You'd better," Colleen half threatened, letting go of her son.

The following week was needless to say the longest for Dillon, and the shortest for Colleen. Dillon was spending nearly all of his free time imagining what this Hogwarts was like, and what he would be learning. He tried to force some magic out of him late at night, after his mother had gone to bed. At most, he though he might have jiggled his pen on his desk while he was across the room sitting on his bed, but that might have just been his imagination. He sighed. What if this was all a mistake? Re reminded himself over and over again that Miss Hobbes said that book thing didn't lie, and his name had been in it. That led him to wondering what his father was like. He had to be a wizard. Dillon knew in reality his father was probably just an average guy, but he couldn't shake the image and dream of him being something extraordinary.

Saturday morning was finally here, and Dillon tired to force himself to go back to sleep when he awoke at 7am. After an hour's futile attempt, he gave up and got up, showered, and dressed. When Dillon walked into the kitchen and was a little surprised to see his mom up, fully dressed and drinking some tea.

"What are you doing up so early for Mum?" Dillon asked sitting across from her a the kitchen table.

"Same reason as you are up now, I imagine. Couldn't sleep," Colleen said. Dillon nodded and stared off into space for a bit, wondering what today would bring. Both of them spend the morning trying to do normal things, such as eat breakfast, and watching Saturday morning cartoons. Both being in an anxious state, the morning passes slowly.

Finally, just as the clock struck 11, the doorbell rang. Dillon jumped off from the couch and ran to the door, flinging it open. There stood Miss Hobbes. Dillon smiled widely and stood aside for her to come in. He hadn't realized till now that he was more than just a little worried that he imagined the owls and the previous meeting with Miss Hobbes. Colleen met Miss Hobbes in the hallway and shook her hand.

"Are you both ready?" Miss Hobbes asked. Dillon nodded enthusiastically while he slipped on his shoes. Colleen said she would be just a moment and went into the other room. She returned a moment later carrying her purse. She nodded to Miss Hobbes who led them back out the door.

In the driveway was a black official looking car that had a little flag on the hood. Dillon couldn't make out what was on the flag.

"Official ministry car," Miss Hobbes explained, opening the back door for Colleen and Dillon to get in.

"This, looks bigger than a normal car," Dillon said slowly, not sure how insane he would sound for saying it.

"It is," Miss Hobbes explained sliding into the car after Colleen. "Magically enlarged." Without warning the car backed up and sped off at a speed that was clearly over the speed limit. "Oh, and you might want to buckle up," Miss Hobbes suggested with a smile after a particularly violent turn. Dillon hastily buckled up and glanced out the window. The car was definitely not normal. It was going so fast the surroundings were blurred and other cars seemed to just jump out of its path. Before Dillon could get used to the car ride, it came to a sudden halt.

"That was so cool! Is that how you always travel?" Dillon asked with glee evident on his face.

"No. We only did this on your behalf," Miss Hobbes told him opening up the car door and holding it open for them to get out.

"Oh," Dillon said a bit sadly, sliding out of the magic car. When he straightened up, he looked around. They were clearly in London, but nothing looked very magical about the place. In fact, he was sure he might have been here before. He asked, "where are we going?"

"The Leaky Cauldron," Miss Hobbes said pointing between two shops. Only now Dillon noticed a shop there he hadn't seen just a moment ago.

"Oh dear," Colleen said softly.

"What is it Mum?" Dillon asked looking worriedly at his mother who had a hand over her heart.

"I've been here before. This is where I met your father,"

"Oh yeah? Well then yes, he was definitely a wizard. This is a Wizard pub," Miss Hobbes said stepping towards the shabby wooden door. Dillon was secretly a little disappointed. This placed looked pretty run down. He imagined a magical gathering place to look well, magical. Miss Hobbes opened the door and Dillon and Colleen entered.

Dillon's eyes took a moment to adjust to the dim light in the room. Before he could get a good look around however, Miss Hobbes was ushering them to a side door that led to a sort of alley way. She gave Dillon a sly smile then took out her wand. For the briefest of moments, Dillon thought maybe this lady was a crazy serial killer, and she had taken them to this scary little place to kill him and his mother. Much to his relief, she simply tapped a couple of bricks on the wall. Dillon was just about to think how silly that was when suddenly the bricks started to shiver then shake. Suddenly the wall was rearranging itself into a large archway beyond which lay so much activity he could not take it all in at once.

"Diagon Alley. Step on through, if you will," Miss Hobbes said to a stunned mother and son. She would never get tired of this part of her job.


	3. Chapter 3

"This is more like it," Dillon said under his breath turning is head every which way trying to see everything at once. It was completely indescribable. He was sure some of these people were not even human. Some where to tall or too hairy. Some had weird skin and even snouts. Dillon glanced the word 'wand' on a sign and quickly turned to Miss Hobbes, "Do I get to get a wand now?"

"In a bit. You need to exchange your muggle money for wizard money," Miss Hobbes explained.

"How do we do that?" Colleen asked.

"Up there, Gringotts Bank, the safest, most secure place imaginable," she pointed at the end of the street where they were headed, to a huge white building that towered over all the other shops. "I'll help you set up an account. Now, I'm going to warn you, because it seems to shock muggles; Gringotts is run goblins. Don't worry, they are perfectly friendly,"

"Goblins?" Colleen asked grabbing her son's arm instinctively. Dillon shook her off and said,

"Mum, she said they are friendly, relax okay?" He spent the rest of the walk to Gringotts in silence, trying to absorb everything as much as possible. Without realized he had walked so far, he was suddenly ascending the steps to the large white building. Like Miss Hobbes had said, there were 2 goblin guards standing guard on either side of the large doors. Dillon was suddenly tense and alert. This place did not have the fun and colorful atmosphere that the Alley had. Dillon and his mother followed Miss Hobbes into the bank. Inside was one large, cavernous room. All along the walls where little windows and stalls where goblins were at work doing various businesslike things. Miss Hobbes led them up to the nearest empty window.

"We need to open an account," Miss Hobbes said to the goblin when he looked up at them questioningly.

"Right, fill this out," he handed Miss Hobbes a piece of paper and a feathered pen, who handed it to Colleen. Dillon noticed it wasn't a pen, but rather a quill. Miss Hobbes led them to a bench where Colleen proceeded to fill out the form. Dillon looked over her shoulder, curious as to what kind of questions a wizard bank would need. He was a little disappointed to see they seemed to be very mundane questions. When Colleen answered that last question on the page, everything seemed to sink into the paper and whole new questions appeared. She sighed, clearly thinking she had been done.

"Whats a meta...meta-whatsit?" Dillon asked reading over Colleen's shoulder once more.

"Oh! Right. I'll need to help you with those," Miss Hobbes said coming over to sit next to Colleen. "Metamorphamagus is someone who can change their appearance at will. You are not one. Nor are you an Animagus," She said, reading the next questions. Dillon was totally lost as to what any of these things meant. They didn't seem to concern him though, because 'no' was checked for nearly all of them. When Colleen finished with this paper, this time, the paper simply vanished.

"Only thing left to do is get your vault key, put some money in it, then of course exchange some to use for todays purchases," Miss Hobbes announced standing, leading them back over to the window they had been at moments before.

"Miss Allaway," The Goblin said clearing his throat, "Do you hereby take responsibility of your son's assets and bank account until he becomes of age?"

"I do," Colleen replied.

"Good. Here is your key then. Vault 610. Would you like to store anything in it at the moment?"

"Um, no, thanks. I just need to exchange some er, muggle, money please," Colleen said a little unsure of herself, glancing at Miss Hobbes who nodded. The goblin simply grunted and held out a grubby hand. Miss Hobbes nodded again and Colleen took out her wallet from her purse and handed the goblin some money. She briefly thought she was absolutely mental. Who was to say these, people, were not just trying to rob her and this all wasn't an elaborate illusion? She watched closely as the goblin counted her money. He wrote something down and then waved his hand causing the money to disappear only to be replaced a second later with a pile of coins. With another lazy wave of his hand, a drawstring bad appeared and the coins were ushered into it.

"31 Galleons, 25 sickles, and 40 knuts," the goblin said. "Do have a nice day,"

Colleen wasn't exactly sure how to reply but was saved the trouble by Miss Hobbes grabbing the bag and sticking it in Colleen's hand. She expected it to be heavy, but it barely weighted anything.

"Can I hold it?" Dillon asked eying the bag in his mother's hand.

"That's a lot of money, so don't lose it," Miss Hobbes said as Colleen handed the bag to her son. Dillon opened the bag and examined one of the gold coins as Miss Hobbes explained to his mom about wizard money. He didn't exactly care at the moment, he just wanted to experience as much of the wizard world as possible.

"Can I get a wand now?" Dillon asked excitedly.

"Yes, that is a good place to start," Miss Hobbes agreed, leading them back down the Alley towards the wand shop Dillon had seen earlier. Even though he had just gone past these shops less then an hour ago, everything still fascinated him. There would never be enough time to see it all, Dillon decided.

"Ollivander's," Dillon read the sign out loud as Miss Hobbes led them inside the small shop.

"Finest wands for thousands of years," Miss Hobbes declared holding the door open for them. "Mr. Ollivander?" She called into the shop. The room they were in now was rather small. There were boxes all along the walls and Dillon could tell there was a hallway that led to the back that was also lined with boxes.

"Ah, Miss Hobbes," A very elderly man with a wobble in his walk and untamed white hair appeared behind the counter, a stack of boxes in his arms. He set the boxes down and peered down Dillon, curiosity in his eyes. "And what's your name?"

"Dillon Allaway," Dillon replied.

"Allaway you say? Not you're father's name I assume,"

"No, sir. My Mum's. I don't know my father,"

"Right, well, lets get started shall we?" The old Mr. Ollivander hobbled out from behind the counter and pulled out a measuring tape and started measuring Dillon in the most random places. "Right handed or left?"

"Left," Dillon answered, starting to feel a little weird as he just noticed the measuring tape was doing all the measuring on its own accord. Mr. Ollivander snatched the tape in mid-air and said "Right, I'll be right back," and then he disappeared in the back. Dillon looked back at his mother and Miss Hobbes who gave him a reassuring smile. His mother was looking around the shop curiously.

"Alright Mr. Allaway, give this one a try," Dillon hadn't even heard Mr. Ollivander return but he was suddenly standing much to close to him. Dillon took a step back and saw a wand in the old man's hand. He took it and looked at it. Just because it seemed like the right thing to do with a wand, he gave it a little swish. Before he could complete the motion Mr. Ollivander had snatched the wand away and replaced it with a new one. Dillon was taken aback by the old mans speed. No sooner had he fully registered that new wand had been placed in his hand, it was removed again. Dillon was a little light headed now for some reason.

"Hmm, I have an idea," Mr. Ollivander said more to himself. He grabbed a ladder and climbed up to and reached for a few boxes in one of the upper shelves. He put them under his arm and then climbed down. "I think you might have a connection with a dragon heart string core. The previous couple were of unicorn,"

"Why dragon heart string?" Dillon couldn't help but ask.

"I have been at this job for a _very_ long time, I know how to do my job well," was all Mr Ollivander said as he removed one of the wands, made of a dark sort of wood, from a box. He handed it to Dillon who tried a little flick of the wrist. He nearly screamed when the box the wand had been in flew out of Mr. Ollivander's hands. "Ah, closer, see?" he said even as he snatched the wand away from frightened youth. "On to this one then. This particular dragon heart string is very rare. It came from an Albino Norwegian Ridge-Back in Romania. I think you will find this satisfying," He handed the wand over. This one was made of a very light colored wood, it was almost white. As he had done with the others, Dillon gave it a little wave.

His breath caught when it felt like invisible vines had sprouted out of the wand and wrapped themselves around his hand holding the wand and continued up his wrist and forearm. He barely even noticed that he had just turned Mr. Ollivander's hair a vibrant shade of purple. As soon as the feeling started it ended and gold and silver sparks shot out of the end of his wand. _His wand._ Dillon was amazed at how readily he was ready to claim this white, dragon filled wand has his own.

"Told you, did I not?" Mr Ollivander said smiling, "now, let me go wrap that up for you shall I?" Dillon handed him the wand and Mr. Ollivander went back behind the counter and put the wand back in it's box. He told Colleen how much it would cost, and she handed over the money. Mr. Ollicander bade them to have a good day and then disappeared into the deapths of the shop once more.

"Remember, you can _not_ use magic outside of school. So I wouldn't even hold the wand in case you accidentally set it off. That could resort in you being expelled," Miss Hobbes explained as they went back into crowded Diagon Alley.

"What are we gonna do now?" Dillon asked looking up at Miss Hobbes.

"You have your school list?" Dillon nodded and pulled the folded piece of parchment out of his back pocket. She continued, "We will be getting everything on that list today,"

Dillon looked down at the list and just realized how long the list was. There was no way he could carry all of these things! He then remembered all this stuff was magic, he would manage somehow. Miss Hobbes suggested they get something to eat since it was about lunch time. She treated them to a little deli called Morvich's Munchies and then they went on down Dillon's list of school supplies. He begged his mum to let him get a broom, even though he had no clue how to really use one, and failed to understand Miss Hobbes' brief description of the sport Quidditch for which the brooms were used for. Miss Hobbes promised that he would learn to fly at Hogwarts.

The day was a big blur in Dillon's eyes. There was too much information to absorb all at once for it all to stand out clearly. Some bits were strong in his memory though, like getting his wand and having an avalanche of books fall on top of him at Flourish and Blotts. All of the shops, even ones that by all right should have been boring, like the book store, captivated Dillon. The last shop they visited for the day was Dillon's favorite though, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Miss Hobbes explained it was a very popular joke shop that also had a branch near Hogwarts. "Every young wizard needs his fair share of pranks," she told him privately as Colleen was distracted by the thousands of items on display, all emitting various sounds and smells.

Dillon at some point got separated from Miss Hobbes and his mother in the shop. He could seem them though across the shop though, so he didn't give it another thought. He instead looked at the items for sale.

"New Hogwarts student?" A voice said next to Dillon, who jumped not expecting the voice. He turned and saw a rather stocky red-headed man in magenta robes.

"Um, yes," Dillon nodded. He shifted a little when the man didn't say anything, and just stared at him. The man seemed to come back to his senses and blinked.

"Right! Then you'll want to see our line of Skiving Snack Boxes. A must have for all Hogwarts students," He led Dillon down the wall to a large display with many other student aged kids. Dillon was very interested in the product, but could still feel the red-haired man's eyes on him, He turned around and found him staring him in the eye. Dillon stumbled backwards from the intensity of the look but the man grabbed his arm to steady him. "Sorry mate," he said after Dillon was stable on his legs once more. "Whats your name anyways?"

"Uh, Dillon Allaway," Dillon replied trying to think of reasons why this man would be staring at him and why he would want to know his name.

"I don't know any Allaways. Muggleborn?"

Dillon nodded. He didn't exactly feel like going on about his unknown father to a complete stranger. A rather odd stranger at that.

"Well, Dillon Allaway, have fun at Hogwarts. Remember, Three Dubs is here for all your pranking needs!" and with that he was gone and Dillon was left to browse the rest of the shop.

"I see you met the famous George Weasley," Miss Hobbes voice said behind Dillon, who jumped once more.

"People need to quit sneaking up on me!" Dillon exclaimed, a little on edge after his weird encounter with that guy, who he assumed now was George Weasley, though the name meant nothing to him.

"Sorry," Miss Hobbes apologized with a mock chuckle, "but we are getting ready to go. Are you getting anything?"

"My mum has all the money, and she would never approve of any of these things right now,"

"Well then, lets head back,"

Dillon sighed and looked around the shop once more. He wasn't ready to leave this magical place just yet. Nonetheless he followed Miss Hobbes back to the entrance to Diagon Alley and into the Leaky Cauldron. He sighed when he stepped back into the busy London street and saw the same car that had brought them sitting out front. Miss Hobbes opened the trunk, Dillon noticed that it too was much larger than normal, and put in all of his things he had just purchased. As she was doing that Dillon and his mother got in the backseat. The ride home was quiet, though Dillon still had so many questions. Dillon could have sworn the trip back to his house was about half as long as to trip to The Leaky Cauldron, but he had no way to be sure, he wasn't wearing a watch.

"Okay, now, this is very important, I suggest you write this down," Miss Hobbes said as she set down the last of Dillon's new school supplies on his kitchen floor. She waited while Dillon and his mother searched for a pen and paper. When Dillon had both in hand, she continued. "The train for Hogwarts leaves at 11 o'clock sharp on September 1st. Now, here is your ticket. This is what you need to remember. The platform is 9 ¾. There is a barrier between platforms 9 and 10, all you do it walk right into it. I know it seems unreal, but trust me. If you are unsure, get there early, and watch. I'm positive you will some other wizarding families doing the same as you. If you have any other questions before then, owl me. There will be an owl stationed in that big tree in your back yard until then. Any questions right now?"

"Can it be September 1st right now?"


	4. Chapter 4

I'm sorry this took so long / I've been in Florida on a sort of vacation for a month, and have little chance to work on this. I'm still down there actually, but only for a few more days. Anyways, it's finally here, enjoy.

Dillon tried to distract himself for the next couple of weeks by attempting he keep busy. When all of his friends asked what was new, it was all he could do from blurting out all that had happened to him. Instead, he told them all that he had got accepted to a private school in Spain so he would no be going to school with them anymore. They were all sad, but being the young boys they were, got over it fast and just enjoyed the last moments they would have together. This did little to make September 1st come any faster though. Colleen told her son countless time to just relax, it would come soon enough.

Colleen had not known how exactly to respond to the news about her son being a wizard. At first she did not like the idea. It meant that he would now be away from her for 10 months of the year, and without Dillon, what did she have? She couldn't imagine her life without her precious redheaded son in it everyday. But as September 1st grew nearer she found a new emotion taking its place. She was proud of her son, and she wasn't even entirely sure why. But she went with it, because being proud of her son felt so much better than thinking about how she would get on without him.

September 1st dawned bright and early and Dillon was up before his alarm was due to go off. He debated if he should lie in bed and wait until 9, when his alarm would go off, or just get up now. It wasn't a tough choice. Dillon jumped out of bed, showered and got ready. He looked in the mirror in the hall on his way to the kitchen. His red hair was getting a little too long. He should have had it cut before today. He always kept it cut very short, but maybe, with this new step up in life, he would let it get a bit longer, try out a new style. Moving on, he made his way to the kitchen and got a glass of milk. He sat down in the living room and flipped on the television, knowing that would be the quickest way to pass the time until it was time to leave. Dillon sighed, there was nothing on TV this time of morning, just infomercials. He gave up and trudged back to his room to triple check that everything was packed and see if there was anything else he wanted to bring with him.

Just as Dillon repacked his last sock his mother knocked on the door then came in.

"How long have you been up?" Colleen asked.

Dillon shrugged and said, "I dunno, like an hour. Couldn't sleep,"

"I imagine," Colleen agreed sitting on her sons bed. She looked around his room and thought about how long the room would be abandoned while Dillon was gone. Miss Hobbes had said Dillon would come back during certain holidays, but still, it would be so weird to be alone for so long. She reminded herself it was for the best. Maybe it would be nice to be able to go out now that she didn't have to watch after Dillon. Call up some old friends, maybe meet a new guy or two. Maybe this was a new stage in each of their lives.

"When are we leaving?" Dillon asked shutting the lid of his trunk.

"Soon. I figure we should get their early like Miss Hobbes suggested and try and see someone else uh, use the entrance to the platform,"

"Good idea," Dillon nodded standing up. He stuck his hand in his pocket and took out his Hogwarts Express ticket and looked at it. He knew all the information by heart, but by looking at it, he reaffirmed it was actually real, at least he hoped. His mind automatically jumped to the worst conclusions and he couldn't get rid of the thought that maybe he was on some prank game show or something and he would be made a fool of. He tried not to think about that and decided to haul his trunk down to his mother's car. When he came back inside Colleen was pulling on her shoes and looked up at Dillon.

"Ready?" Colleen asked.

"Now?"

"Well yeah. Better early than late,"

"True," Dillon agreed going through his mental checklist one more time. Good thing he did too, because he suddenly ran to his room. He just remembered something that had happened many years ago, he could not believe all that through all that had happened in the past weeks had not jogged his memory. He pulled the drawer out of the bottom drawer of his bedside table. On the bottom of the drawer was a drawing he had done when he was about 5. He looked at it fondly. He had not looked at this picture since the day he drew it, that's why he forgot all about it. He had hid it there because he did not want anyone to see it. It was a drawing in crayon of himself, his mom, and a redheaded man he intended to be his father. That is not why he wanted it hidden though. He his it because this picture moved. The stick figure father put his arm around the stick figure Dillon and gave him a loving squeeze, smiling down at him. Even the birds in the sky were flying around. He had thought his mind was simply playing tricks on him and it was his imagination. Now he knew better, he knew it was magic. He was still kicking himself for not remembering this long before now. Nonetheless, he folded it back up and stuck it in his pocket and ran back downstairs to his waiting mother.

"Forget something?" Colleen asked.

"No," Dillon lied, "thought I did, but I remembered I packed it earlier. Lets go." He smiled to his mother and opened the door for her.

20 minutes later they arrived at Kings Cross Station, and they still had an hour until the train departed. They took their time finding a cart and loading Dillon's trunk onto it, and then making their to the wall between platforms 9 and 10.

"How will we know who is a wizard?" Colleen whispered to Dillon as she looked at the people walking around them.

"Oh I don't know, I think them walking through the wall will give them away a bit," Dillon suggested earning him a glare from his mother. She clearly thought this was not a situation a joke about. Dillon just rolled his eyes and joined his mother in scanning the crowds.

"Hey," Dillon nudged his mother and nodded towards a group of people walking up to the wall between the platforms, 2 trunks in tow, both stocked with trunks and an owl. He was sure this was a family of wizards. Dillon watched as the father, a man with black hair and glasses, said something to his two sons, and then turned and marched purposefully into the wall separating platform 9 and 10. Dillon heard his mother gasp as she watched the man disappear into the wall. Moments later the two boys followed with their carts, then finally the red headed mother with her small red headed daughter in hand.

"Well, I guess that is all there is to it," Dillon said straightening up, taking hold of his cart. He looked back to his mother who looked just a little bit frightened. "It will be alright Mum," Dillon assured her then he took off towards the wall, his mother right behind him, her hand on his shoulder. She didn't want him somehow getting separated from here in the wall. She laughed as she repeated that thought in her head. While she was laughing at that, they went into the apparently solid wall and appeared on the other side. She stopped laughing abruptly and gazed at the train in front of them and crowd of people around them.

Dillon's jaw dropped. All concerns that this was a dream or elaborate illusion left him. The sights, the sounds, the smells, were all to real to pass off. He turned around to his mother and saw a similar expression on her face.

"Well Mum, I guess this is it," Dillon said to her as they made their way through the crowd to one of the entrances on the train.

"You write me as soon as you get there," Colleen demanded crushing Dillon into a hug so tight Dillon thought she might just be trying to morph his body into hers.

"Right, I will Mum," Dillon agreed once he was able to breath again. Colleen held Dillon at arms length and looked him over.

"Well, no point in prolonging this Dillon. Be good, listen to the teachers, be nice, you know all that stuff," Colleen said, Dillon nodded.

"I will, don't worry. I'd better get going, you know, before all the cabins get full, you know," Dillon said, hugging his mother once more, "Goodbye!" Colleen hugged Dillon a few more times, not wanting it to be the last for who knows how long. Finally though, Dillon was separated from his mother and hauling his stuff toward the train.

He had a bit of trouble getting his big trunk up onto the train, but got some help from what he assumed was an older student. He dragged all his stuff down the narrow passageway of the train till he found and empty cabin and stuck his trunk inside. He couldn't haul it onto the top rack, so he just left it on the ground near the seat. He looked out his window, hoping to see his mother one last time. He found her, and she saw him. He waved vigorously and she waved back and blew him a kiss. Dillon took a moment look around at all the other families saying goodbye on the platform. He spotted the family they had followed onto the platform, the father kneeling in front of his spitting image of a son. Dillon suddenly felt his heart ache for a father to do the same for him. That feeling didn't last though. He had his mother, and she was as good as any father. But still, the thought lingered.

"You look lonely, want some company?" A voice started Dillon from the entryway. A small short boy with short dark hair and small glasses stood there with his trunk behind him.

"I don't mind," Dillon said smiling to the boy, turning back to look out the window at his mother. Moments later the other boy joined him next to the window clearly searching for his own family. He apparently found them because he started waving. Dillon continued waving to his mother and smiling at her as he felt the train start to move and heard it's whistle blow. All too soon they had begun to round the corner and the platform and all the people on it were out of sight. Dillon sighed and sad down on the seat, unsure as to what his emotion was at the moment. He was excited and thrilled to be going to Hogwarts. At the same time though, he was terribly sad to leave his mother behind, all alone. A part of him felt terrible for leaving her, but the other part told him he needed to do this, and that his mother understood.

"Is this your first year here?" Dillon asked turning to the boy.

"Yeah, you?" the boy asked and Dillon nodded. Dillon suddenly remembered his manners and held out his hand.

"I'm Dillon Allaway by the way,"

The boy shook Dillon's hand and said, "I'm Adam Carther,"

There was a bit of an awkward silence for a bit as both of the boys stared out the window watching the countryside go by. Finally Dillon asked what had been on his mind since he first saw the boy, "Have you, uh, always known about magic?"

"Oh yeah, my whole family is full of witches and wizards. Are you muggle born then?" Adam asked.

"Yeah," Dillon nodded more than a little relieved at how friendly the boy, Adam, was, "I was pretty excited when I found out you know, after I got over thinking it was all a big prank or a dream,"

"I can't imagine what it would be like not knowing about magic, then having it sprung on me," Adam said.

"And I can't imagine what it would be like growing up with magic," Dillon added.

"Well, I don't imagine it's much different. The only thing different is how we go about doing things, I think. I can't really compare since you know, I only know magic. You'll be able to apperciate the difference since you will have lived both ways,"

Dillon just nodded, not really sure how to respond. Instead he said, "So, can you do magic? You know, with your wand and stuff?"

"Well, we are technically not allowed to do magic out of school until we are 17, but I have an older sister, and she has told me some spells, and I've picked some up over the years, but I've never actually tried them. Oh!" Adam opened his trunk and pulled out his rather long dark colored wand, "We could try now! I'm pretty sure I could do something basic. I just need to remember what the incantation is, hmm" Adam's eyes narrowed and scrunched his mouth to one side as he was trying to remember one of the spells. His eye's lit up and he said, "Okay! I remember one! My sister said it was a first year spell, so it shouldn't be too hard,"

"What's it do?" Dillon asked

"Lift something,"

"Like make it float?"

"Yeah, if it works," Adam looked around the cabin for something small to levitate. There wasn't really anything small just lying around, so instead Adam took off his watch and set it on the seat next to him. "Alright, let's give this a try," He cleared his throat and Dillon watched intently. Adam held his wand in front of him and said in a commanding voice, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

"Maybe you need to move your wand around a bit," Dillon suggested when the watch stayed put.

"Good idea," Adam said, "most spells have want movement...I think. Whenever I see anyone doing a spell they move their wand anyways," He cleared his throat once more and repeated the spell, stabbing his wand in the air at the watch. He tried a few more times with different wand movement. Once the watch did a little back flip, but that was as close as Adam got to levitating it.

"That was cool though!" Dillon assured Adam as he pocketed his wand dejectedly and put it watch back around his wrist, "Better than anything I could do," Adam just shrugged.

"You'll learn fast enough,"

"I hope. So do you know anyone else besides your sister that goes to Hogwarts?" Dillon asked

"Oh yeah, I know a few people in our year, and a couple in other years. The wizarding community is not that large, so most people know, or at least have heard of each other. But you're muggleborn, so I guess that doesn't really matter to you," Adam told Dillon. Then he added, "No one will take you for a muggleborn though, I don't think. You could easily pass as a Weasley. I thought you were actually when I first saw you, I was wondering why you were sitting alone,"

_Weasley? _ Dillon thought. Why did that sound familiar? Oh right, that one shop, and that red-headed guy he had met in it, he was a Weasley. What was it, George Weasley? It didn't really matter anyhow. Dillon said outloud, "I met a Weasley in Diagon Alley, he owned that joke shop. Why could I pass as one? The red hair?"

"Well yeah, and the freckles, and just something about you. They have a have a big family, so it would be easy for a name to get lost among them all. They make up like, a quarter of Gryffindor House right now I think someone said, because they are all in the same house,"

"What are houses?" Dillon asked hoping this wasn't a ridiculous question. Adam didn't seem to think so though and went on to explain that there were 4 houses in Hogwarts; Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff, and all students got sorted into one of them and then lived with that house. Dillon thought that was just about the coolest thing he had ever heard and asked questions about it for a long while. Those questions eventually led to questions about Quidditch and Adam went into detail about the game and the rules. Just as Dillon's store of questions was running low, someone knocked on the open door frame and stuck their head in.

"Adam! I was wondering where you were!" The chunky boy with shaggy brown hair said stepping into the cabin.

"Hey Hurley! Oh, this is Dillon Allaway," Adam introduced them, "Dillon, this is Hurley Street, a friend of mine."

"Nice to meet you," Hurley said taking a seat next to Adam.

"You too," Dillon replied.

"Allaway? Are you muggleborn?" Hurley asked.

Dillon nodded, thinking how strange it was that people could tell that just from his name.

"Well, welcome to the wonderful world of wizardry mate," Hurley said with a small grin. He then turned to Adam, "Anyways, Josh and Delainey sent me to find you, and I found you, so I'm off,"

"Is that all who is sitting with you?" Adam inquired.

"No, there was me, Josh Bishop, Delainey, Judy, and Josh Abrack," Hurley told Adam, holding up a finger for each person listed.

"Sounds crowded. I'll just stay in here with Dillon," Adam said, and Dillon was very grateful Adam wasn't going to leave him alone.

"Well, I'll tell them I found you then. See you later" Hurley waved to the both of them and left the compartment.

"Why did you sit with me if you had a whole group of friends waiting for you?" Dillon couldn't help asking.

"Like I said when I first got on, you looked lonely, and I didn't think it right to leave you sitting here all alone, you know?" Adam explained.

Dillon smiled and said "Thanks,"

"No problem,"


	5. Chapter 5

Dillon and Adam spent the rest of the train ride to Hogwarts learning more about each other. Adam had amazing patience for which Dillon was thankful for. He learned a lot of little details about the wizarding world that Adam passed off as nothing, but Dillon thought were amazing.

"And they really do have every flavor," Adam explained about Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, "And sadly, there are more bad tasting things in this world then there are good. But they put more of the good flavors in a pack than the bad ones. I've had carpet flavored before, I swear it even had the texture of carpet,"

Dillon made a face of disgust as he imagined what that could taste like. Then he looked at his watch and asked, "How much longer you think till we get there?"

Adam looked out the window, which showed dark forests with orange skies; it was nearing nightfall, "Not that long, I think. We should get our robes on probably," Dillon nodded and opened his trunk and found his robe. He slipped it around his shoulders and did up the clasps. He held out his arms and looked down at himself. He wished he had a mirror, he would have loved to see himself in these robes. Dillon thought to himself, he'd have to look into cameras here. Wizards had to have cameras right? Or something equivalent. His mother would love to see pictures of him in his Hogwarts uniform.

"Wow, these things have a lot of pockets," Dillon stated as he examined his robes more closely. There were two big, deep pockets on the outside. Inside there was a long thin over his right chest, he assumed this was for his wand. There was also several other smaller ones all along the inside of the left side. "what are these ones all for?"

"Well, to hold things I imagine," Adam grinned as Dillon rolled his eyes. Adam continued, "I don't think they have a specific purpose," Dillon continued examining his robes for a few moments and then moved to his still open trunk. He had not yet really looked at his new textbooks for fear of somehow ruining them. Now however he deemed it safe to look at them and picked up the book on the top of the pile. "Potions for Beginners" read the title. Dillon flipped through the pages that were filled with long lists and generally short paragraphs. Every now and then there were sketchy black and white drawings, few of them looked pleasant.

"I hear Potions is the hardest class," Adam said noticing the book Dillon was looking at.

"Yeah, it doesn't look that pleasant. Look at this, a potion to give you warts? Why would anyone want that?" Dillon said looking at one of the pages.

"Well no one would want that for themselves, but for people they don't like, I guess," Adam ventured.

"That doesn't seem very school appropriate," Dillon added even though he was smiling at the idea. There was a couple guys back at his muggle school that he wouldn't mind giving a wart potion to.

"Oi, you two," A voice from the doorway started both Dillon and Adam as a tall brunette with a light smattering of freckles stuck her head in. She continued, "We are about to arrive, I suggest you get all your things together," and she moved on.

"That was a prefect," Adam told Dillon. Adam was starting to just tell Dillon things he wouldn't know before Dillon even got the chance to ask him. "Sorta like honor students, I guess. I wouldn't want to be one. They have too many responsibilities," Dillon just nodded and set his book back in his trunk, closing it and snapping it shut.

Within 5 minutes both boys could feel the train start slowing down, and then grind to a halt.

"Leave your trunk here, someone will come and get them," Adam said as Dillon started to pick up his trunk once he saw and heard the other students on the train beginning to move. Dillon, thankful he did not have to drag his trunk all the way to the school, which he could not even see out the window, nodded and set the end of his trunk back down. Dillon followed Adam as he merged in with all of the students making their way to one of the exits off from the train.

Dillon had no idea there were so many students on the train. When he stepped onto the platform, it was already full of students of all ages. He could spot the other first years because they all did their best to try not to bump into the older students and looked unsure of themselves.

"Dillon!" Dillon's head snapped in the direction of the voice and saw Adam up ahead waving to him. He made his way over to Adam who was surrounded by several other students.

"Everyone, this is Dillon," Adam said to the group around his. They all waved kindly at him. Adam continued, "This is Judy, Delainy, Josh Bishop, Josh Abrack, and you met Hurley earlier. This is sorta our group,"

"How do you all already know each other?" Dillon couldn't help but ask. He kind of thought it a little unfair that all these people were already friends before school even started.

"The wizard world is quite small, it's hard not to know most everyone. But we went to a sorta pre-hogwarts class this summer. It was to help up prepare for Hogwarts and stuff, and get to know everyone. So we all met and became friends there," Adam explained.

"Oh," was all Dillon said. Why didn't he go to that class? It sure would have helped him. It was like all of these people were a step ahead of him. "Does everyone go to that?"

"No, there were only a few other people that went," Hurley anwered.

"Guys, I think we need to go over there," the tall and lanky brunette who Dillon remembered being Judy, said pointing towards the end of a platform. Dillon had to do a double because at first he did not believe what he saw standing at the end of the platform. There, with all the first years surrounding him was a giant of a man. The extra large man was holding up a large lantern and calling all the first years over to him, the majority of them seemed to already be there.

"I think that must be Hagrid," one of the Joshes said to the group, "my brother told me about him. He takes the first years up to the castle on boats instead of the horseless carriages like everyone else,"

"Anymore first years?" The booming voice of the half-giant Hagrid asked the crowd. When it appeared all the first years were assembled in front of him he looked down at them and smiled, greeting some of them by name. "Right," he went on, "My name is Hagrid, and I'll lead you all safely up to Hogwarts. You'll be gettin' the best view of the castle there is, so soak it all up. C'mon now, let's get goin'. Don't wanna be late for the feast now do we?" He gave a deep chuckle and his dark eyes, nearly hidden beneath is mane of hair, sparkled in the light of the lantern he was holding up to see all the first years. "Alright, come along," Hagrid turned a waved a hand and all the first years followed him off from the platform and into some trees. A moment later the trees cleared and before them was a massive lake that was so still that it might have been a massive mirror instead of a lake.

"No more than four to a boat," Hagrid instructed. Dillon hadn't even noticed the boats until Hagrid said something. Adam nudged Dillon to get into the boat nearest him. The two Joshes followed Adam and Dillon into one of the small boats. Dillon was just about to note that there were not pattles when suddenly the boat lurched forward and he had to grab the sides to balance himself out. He had never been on a boat before and even though the lake was as still as he could hope for, the motion set his stomach churning.

"Keep your hands in the boat you!" Hagrid yelled in the direction of two boys sticking their hands in the water as they floated along, "Don't want the giant squid to get you,"

"But the squid is friendly!" one of the boys yelled back.

"Not when interrupt his sleep, now keep yer hand in the boats!" Hagrid demanded as the boats made their way across the lake.

"Their is a giant squid in this lake?" Dillon asked as he stared at the water, half expecting to see a giant eye glaring up at him.

"Yeah, it's not him you wanna worry about though," the Josh with shoulder length shaggy black hair said "It's the grindylows and other things. They'll drag you down under,"

"And some of the merpeople are even worse! I hear they once kidnapped 4 students and held them hostage underwater," The other Josh added with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"That was for the Tri-Wizard Tournament, don't scare him," Adam scolded the Joshes who laughed and Dillon's look of horror.

Dillon tried not to think of all the various creature swimming under him at that moment and instead looked where they were going. They were about to go around a bend in the lake, but so far all he could see were trees. Suddenly gasps were heard from the front of the pack as the first people to round the bend got a glimpse of the castle. Dillon reacted just the same when the massive and ancient building came into view. Turrets and towers in numbers Dillon had never seen before, not even in photos of old castles. It took his breathe away and all he could do was stare in awe. He was therefore caught very off guard when something slimy hit him on the side of his face and he looked up to see that they were going into an underground tunnel, the entrance to which was covered with what looked like seaweed. Dillon heard boys laughing all around him as various girls screamed as they failed to avoid the hanging seaweed. He himself couldn't help but smirk. He returned his attention to where they were and where they were headed. The tunnel all around them looked as though it was simply dug out of the ground. The walls and ceiling were dense compacted earth and glowing balls following them from above provided light to see by. The tunnel was not very long. Within a couple of minutes they were back under the moonlight that was being covered by a thin layer of clouds, the castle of Hogwarts looming in front of them. Moments later they bumped into the shore and everyone began getting out of the boats, trying their best not to get the bottom of their robes in the water.  
There was a splash and everyone turned towards the source of the noise. Two boys were rolling around in the water. Before they had really begun Hagrid had bounded over to them and pulled them apart, holding them both in mid air by their collars.

"Albus! What do you think your doing?" Hagrid shouted at the shorter of the boys that had black hair and brilliant green eyes that sparkled in the moonlight.

"He started it!" The boy named Albus accused, pointing to the boy he had just been wrestling with. Hagrid turned to the tall blonde boy.

"Is that true?" Hagrid asked.

"No!" Shouted the blonde boy, "And put me down! You are choking me!" Hagrid rolled his eyes but set both boys down a safe distance away.

"This is not a good way to start things off this year. Now stay away from each other and move along," Hagrid scolded the 2 boys and went back to lead the group to the castles front doors.

"What was that about?" Dillon asked Adam.

Adam shrugged and said "I dunno. But I know that was Albus Potter, and I think the blonde one was Scorpius Malfoy,"

Those names meant nothing to Dillon except how weird they were. He moved with the group up the lawn and then up the large front steps leading to entrance to Hogwarts. Standing at the base of the castle, Dillon was struck with just how large the castle actually was. He guess it had to be, to house all of the students, the teachers and classes. It pretty much had to hold a small village. It made sense, but that didn't stop it being amazing. Dillon saw that he was not the only one amazed by the grandness of Hogwarts.

"Alright, watch your step now. Get inside, all of ya," Hagrid guided the students through the doors he was now holding open. When everyone was inside he let the doors close and said "Ok, now you all just stay put, someone will be in with ya in a minute,"

"What's going to happen when we get where ever we are going?" Dillon whispered to Adam.

"We get sorted," Adam replied bouncing on his feet. He was clearly anxious.

"How do they do that?"

"Something to do with a hat,"

"What, like pull a rabbit out of a hat?" Dillon asked.

Adam raised an eyebrow at Dillon and asked "do muggle's keep their rabbits in hats?"

"No, nevermind I guess" Dillon replied glancing around the room they were in. Everyone seemed to be waiting for something, but no one appeared to know what. Finally with a bang a door at the front of the room opened.

"Whoa, sorry about that folks" A man in his mid twenties caught hold of the door as it swung back off the wall, "I always forget how fast this door opens and closes," He smiled at the group as he sweeped he light brown wavy hair out of his eyes. "Right, welcome first years! I am Professor Rundell and I will be your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. But for now, I will escort you into the Great Hall and lead the sorting. Now, if you will all form a line, or at least just elongate this mass you got going on here, then we will get going," Professor Rundell waited while the students followed his instructions. When they were in a semi-line he nodded and opened the he came in, taking care to open it slowly and led the way into the biggest room Dillon had ever seen.

Not only was it the biggest room he had ever seen, it was also the most magnificent. The ceiling was impossibly high, it looked like it might in fact reach into the heavens. Candles floated in the air above the heads of hundreds of students in black robes. All of said students were not turned in their seats staring at the incoming first years. Dillon tried his best to avoid eye contact with any of these strangers but from past experiences he felt they were staring mostly at him. It happened to him at his muggle school, or any places even just because his vividly red hair stood out most of the time. He noted that there appeared to be an above average number of people with red hair in the student body and Dillon thought maybe red hair was more common in wizards. It helped quell his concern that everyone was staring at him anyways. Dillon ran into the person in front of him, which luckily was only Adam because he was too distracted by his surroundings and own personal worries to pay attention to what he was doing. He followed the gazes of everyone in the hall and fell upon Professor Rundell standing in front of the hall, in front of a long table full of adult wizards that Dillon assumed to be teachers. Next to the young professor was a battered wooden stool and an even more battered hat sitting on it.

"First years, I will call your name and you will come up here, sit on the stool and I will place the sorting hat on you head, and then the hat will sort you," Professor Rundell unrolled a scroll of paper and took a breath, preparing to read off the first name when suddenly the hat next to him gave off a clearing of the throat noise, if hats had throats. Professor Rundell looked at the hat then said "Oh right! The song! Sorry, I always forget. You'd think I'd remember by my 4th year, but here we are. Anyways, go on," he motioned for the Sorting Hat to continue with what it needed to do. Dillon was still trying to wrap his head around a talking hat, and how it was suppose to sort him when suddenly the hat burst out into song. He marveled at it's rhymes and actually found it's descriptions of the houses rather helpful because when Adam had explained the, he seem kind of biased on the subject. And then the song was over and Professor Rundell was thanking the hat for it's song.

Just then a horrifying thought struck Dillon. What if he was the first name on the list? Allaway was pretty much usually at the top of lists that went alphabetically, and lists usually did go alphabetically. He couldn't go first, he had to see someone else do it first. His mind was going frantic as Professor Rundell called "Josh Abrack," and Dillon sighed a huge sigh of relief as one of the Josh's pushed their way up front and sat on the stood. Professor Rundell placed the hat lightly on Josh's mess of golden blonde hair. The hat sat there a moment motionless and then it shouted into the silent hall, "Slytherin!" Josh smiled and a table at the end of the hall erupted in applause as Josh Abrack gave a wild grin and practically pranced off to sit with his new house mates.

"Dillon Allaway" Dillon was snapped away from the scene of Josh getting greeted by his new housemates by his name being called. He wasn't surprised he was next, but he still didn't like it. He swallowed hard fought his way up to the chair which he was now eying with suspicion. It didn't seem that sturdy. He looked up at Professor Rundell who just nodded toward the chair. Dillon took a deep breath and sat on the stool, facing all of the student population of Hogwarts. All eyes were on him now. He felt the hat being placed on his head and he closed his eyes.

_Well, that is interesting. _A voice in his head almost made Dillon jump. The voice continued as if talking to itself. _Not my place, I suppose. But it's clear as day where you need to be. _"Gryffindor!" the hat shouted to the hall and a table on the opposite end as the Slytherin table cheered and Dillon in an almost dream like state stood up and made his way to the cheering table. He got pats on the backs and whispered welcomes as someone scooted over and made room for him.

Dillon Allaway was officially a Gryffindor. He grinned like a fool, feeling this was exactly where he belonged.


	6. Chapter 6

(So, I realize I probably have many spelling errors in here and grammatical mistakes, and frankly I'm to lazy to go through and fix them all, lol. So, does anyone want to be my beta? Email me.)

Dillon watched the rest of the first years get sorted in a sort of daze. He didn't think it was possible to feel this happy! He came out of his daze though to watch the few people he knew get sorted. The tall girl whose name was Judy became a Ravenclaw as did the other Josh and the short blonde named Delainey. The boy named Hurley became a fellow Gryffindor and Adam got sorted into Hufflepuff.

"I figured Adam for a Gryffindor," Hurley leaned over to Dillon and whispered as the last few people got sorted. Dillon just gave a non committed shrug and turned his attention back to the front were Professor Rundell was now removing the sorting hat. From the center of the staff table rose a tiny man. He literally rose into the air, apparently levitating himself, because if he stood on the floor, he probably would not even be able to see over the top of it.

The tiny man grinned down at all the students and cleared his throat and said in a voice that, despite his size, spoke with authority, "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I am Professor Flitwick, your Headmaster. I will be short, (there was a smattering of giggles across the hall) as I know you all must be hungry. I would like you all to welcome the newest addition to our staff, Professor Krane, taking up the muggle studies class. And now the basics. The Forbidden Forest is of course Forbidden. No magic in the halls. No wondering after curfew. And there is a list of forbidden objects in all your common rooms. Now, lets eat!" The headmaster floated back down to his seat (Dillon was pretty sure he was sitting on a stack of books) and Dillon saw food appear on the front table. He looked down at his own table and his eyes got wide as he saw that all the platters and bowls that moments before had been empty were now overflowing with all kinds of food.

"Whoa!" Dillon's eyes raked over all his food options, trying to take it all in and figure out what he wanted to eat first.

"Awesome isn't it?" One of the older students across from Dillon said as he himself piled on mashed potatoes onto his plate, "Does this for every meal. Well, not all this variety for every food, but it just appears like that. Your name was Dillon right? I'm Lysander," The boy with big, light blue eyes and short white-blonde hair held his hand out to Dillon who shook it and nodded.

"No offence but, uh, some of you guys seem to have weird names," Dillon said unable to hold that in after hearing all the names of the students being sorted.

Lysander just shrugged and said, "Must be a wizard thing and you must be a muggle-born yes?"

"Yeah and I have to say, despite the weird names, this place is awesome!"

"That's cause I'm here," another voice chimed in.

"Can't stop eavesdropping can you Fred?" Lysander laughed turning to the fair-skinned, red-haired boy next to him.

"What can I say, I have good hearing. I heard the word 'awesome' and couldn't help myself. Which one is this now?" Fred turned his attention to Dillon, examining him closely.

"Dillon Allaway," Dillon told him.

"Welcome to Gryffindor, I'm Fred Weasley,"

"You know, I keep hearing the name Weasley a lot," Dillon said.

Fred chuckled, "Yeah, I imagine you'll hear it a lot more around here. We are a pretty big family. There is 3 just in your year alone!"

"I only remember hearing two," Dillon recalled.

"Yeah well Albus is technically a Potter, but the Potter's are our cousin's, so they count as Weasleys," Fred looked down the table and started pointing to people, " that one, that one, that one, that one, that one, that one, and that one, plus myself, all part of the Weasley clan,"

"Wow," Dillon hadn't caught many of the people Fred had pointed out, he had done it so fast. Dillon himself only had 4 cousins.

Dillon didn't talk to Lysander and Fred much more during the feast, they began talking about Quidditch and Dillon tried to catch as much of it as he could.

"I assume you have never flown," Hurley said noticing Dillon listening to the Quidditch conversation.

"No. I wouldn't even know where to start," Dillon replied.

"On the ground, of course," Hurley replied refilling his cup with whatever he had been drinking. He continued, "Don't worry about it anyways. They give first years a basic flyitng class I hear. It's always handy to know how to fly, even if you are not going to be playing Quidditch,"

"I think I'd want to see if before I decide if I want to try and play," Dillon said, trying to imagine the sport he had only ever heard described, but never seen.

After the students stuffed themselves with dessert, and the chatter got to an all-time high, Professor Flitwick floated up again and the hall fell silent and looked up at him.

"What a great meal that was! Well, if you can carry your, no doubt, heavier selves away, you are dismissed to bed. See you all for classes in the morning!" Professor Flitwick floated back down comfortably to his seat. People began standing up and Dillon followed.

"Gryffindors! Follow us please!" several voices repeated, all in the same area. Dillon just merged into the crowd of other Gryffindors and went where ever they were going. He realized he probably should have been towards the front, or at least on the sides, so he could see where he was going, as he would probably need that information, but he was stuck in the middle, only able to see the people around him. One of the voices that were calling the Gryffindors from the great hall called to them again, "The password for now is 'abode,'"

"What do we need a password for?" Dillon asked Hurley who was right next to him. He couldn't see what was going on.

"Get into the common room," Hurley said as all the students started to move forward once again. Dillon did not see the step up and tripped, taking a couple people with him. He apologized and got up, looking around him.

"This is the common room?" Dillon asked looking at the round room around him. It was a very comfortable looking room, filled with squishy dark red chairs and couches, a large fire crackling in the grate.

"First years, listen up!" Dillon could now see, and put the face of petite girl with light brown hair with a slight red twinge to it to the voice. "Boys, your room is up this staircase. Girls, this one is yours. I suggest you all go to bed, you'll have a busy day tomorrow," She then went up the girls staircase she had just indicated.

Dillon looked around. None of the first years seemed to want to be the first ones to move. Finally a girl with sleek red hair and freckles sighed and moved forward purposefully towards the girl's staircase and disappeared up it. Everyone looked around at each other and then they all seemed to shrug, and everyone finally made their way to their respective staircase. Dillon followed Hurley up the stairs and into a dark room with 6 beds circling around the walls.

"How do you turn on this bloody light?" a voice said from the dark. "Ah! There!" Light flooded the room and a smiling blonde boy stood next to it looking proud of himself.

"You just turned on a light, you didn't kill Voldemort. Quit looking so proud of yourself Louis," the boy that had been wrestling in the lake said grumpily to the blonde boy as he pushed past Dillon

"Oh stuff it Albus," Louis shot back, "you only wish you could turn on lights as great as I can,"

"Yeah I'm sure that's it," Albus laughed and then fell down on a bed that had his trunk at the end of it.

"Your's is right here Dillon," Hurley said as he moved on looking for his own trunk. He found it at the bed next to Dillon's.

"Thanks," Dillon said as he bent down to open his trunk. He took off his school robes and began to switch into his pajamas as everyone else did the same. When he finished dressing he looked at his new roomates. Hurley he knew. Louis and Albus he knew the names to. That left two more boys that Dillon had no clue who they were.

When everyone had changed into their pajama's, they all seemed to have been in the same mindset, because they all found themselves standing at the end of their beds, staring at one another.

"Guess maybe we should introduce ourselves," Hurley suggested, nods following his words. "Uh, I'm Hurley Street," He gave a weak little wave and then looked at Dillon.

"Er, I'm Dillon Allaway," and it went around the room.

"Albus Potter,"

"Louis Weasley,"

"I'm Zephaniah Zimmerman. Call me Zeph,"

"Jon Mitchel,"

More awkward silence.

"Maybe we should, you know, get to bed," The boy with the rather large nose named Zeph suggested. Everyone agreed and got into their beds. Dillon closed his hangings and was asleep before he even realized how tired he was.

Dillon was awoken in the morning by his room mates rummaging around the room. He opened his hangings and grimaced when the sun hit his eyes, making him sneeze.

"Sick on the first day of classes?" Hurley asked when Dillon emerged from his bed.

"No, it's just from the sun," Dillon replied.

"What does the sun have to do with sneezing?" Hurley asked.

"Doesn't the sun make you sneeze?" Dillon questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"No," Hurley laughed in a way that clearly said he thought Dillon was crazy, "I'm pretty sure your the only person ever to do it,"

"We do it," Albus suddenly put in. He was pointing to Louis and himself, "Our whole family does, for the most part. Least on our Weasley side. I don't think my dad does, I remember him making fun of my mum for doing it once,"

"Really?" Hurley asked, "Maybe you are all mental then," he laughed while tying his shoes.

"I think if the majority of us are mental, then that makes us the norm, and you are now the mental one," Louis stated doing up his tie.

"Zeph, Jon," Hurley called attention to the other two boys in the room who were quietly minding their own business getting dressed. "Do you guys sneeze when you get in the sun? Or heard of it?"

"No," Zeph said while Jon just shook his head and continued pulling on his pants.

"See, it's split. We are equally as sane as you," Albus grinned.

"Yes well, my sanity has been debated many times before," Hurley gave a maniacal grin to emphasize his point.

Albus laughed and shook his head. "Come on Lou, lets go get some breakfast.

"I want to investigate this sun-sneezing thing more," Hurley said to Dillon.

"Well, I always thought everyone did it," Dillon told him as he finished up getting dressed.

"I never heard of it until you just this morning,"

"That's so weird," Dillon.

"It happens," was all Hurley said in reply. "Do you want me to wait for you?" He asked when he was all ready to go down to breakfast but Dillon was still getting dressed.

"No, I think I can figure out. Can't be too hard right?" Dillon said. He was not a morning person, and always took a while to get ready. He did not want to keep Hurley from his breakfast.

"Alright, see you later mate," Hurley waved to Dillon as he left, leaving him alone in the room.

"I was hoping I'd get you alone today," a voice said seconds after Hurley left. Dillon jumped and stared around the room. He swore he had been alone.

"Whose there?" Dillon asked shakily looking in all the corners.

"Oh right, you probably can't see me. Here," The voice said again and in front of Dillon appeared the ghost of a young man. Dillon tried not to scream but couldn't help but stumble back onto this bed. He had seen some of the ghosts last night at the feast, but they had never gotten very close to them. They still gave him the chills.

"Didn't meant to frighten you," the ghost said with an apologetic look. "I'm a good ghost, promise," he grinned. Then Dillon suddenly realized this ghost look familiar.

"You, didn't I just see you at the store? Didn't you own it?" Dillon asked when he realized this ghost was the spitting image, maybe younger, of the red haired man that had owned the joke shop.

"Oh you saw George did you?" the ghost's face lit up, if ghosts face's could, at the mention of George. "How's my twin doing?"

"Er, good, I guess," Dillon answered, a little relived he wasn't seeing the ghost of a man he had seen alive only weeks ago. "Can I, uh, help you? I'm suppose to be down to breakfast,"

"Well, I think I can help you, actually," the ghost of the twin of George Weasley floated and sat on the end of the bed opposite Dillon. He pretended to examine his nails. "First off, I'm Fred Weasley,"

"I just met Fred Weasley yesterday at the feast," Dillon said.

"Yes, fine young man, if I may say so myself. He'd be my nephew, if I was still alive. Now, why I am here, I am sure you are curious," Dillon nodded, "Well, there is a lot of talk about you in the Gryffindor house, and even among many of the teachers,"

"About me?" Dillon couldn't believe it. Why would they talk about him?

"Yes. And seeing you in person, this close, I understand why now. I admit, I didn't believe them at first,"

"Believe what?" Dillon insisted.

Fred gave a wicked grin "Well now, what fun is there in telling you right off? No, I just wanted to see you with my own eyes. See this boy all of the Weasleys are talking about. I do want to help you though," he said, now serious, "It's just, I think you need to figure it out by yourself. I'll help you though, if you want the help."

"Help with what?" Dillon wondered now on the edge of his seat.

"Well, when you figure out what you need help with, just give me a call. I'll be around," Fred gave Dillon a wink and disappeared into nothingness. Dillon scolwed.

"I know you're still there," he mumbled as he roughly threw on his school robes. He was sure he heard a soft laugh. He made a noise and hurried out of the room. He didn't want to miss breakfast.


	7. Chapter 7

(Again, I'm sorry this has taken so long to put up. I probably won't be able to update this as much as I would like because I just started college, so I won't have much free time work on this. But I won't forget about it, and I will continue it, it just might take a while. Thank you for your support and patience!)

Dillon realized he had no clue on how to get back to the Great Hall for breakfast. He remembered going up some stairs the night before, so he went down the first flight he saw. Still, nothing looked familiar. He wondered in the direction he thought might be the right way, but kept getting the feeling he was just getting farther and farther away. Finally he saw an older student and waved them down and asked rather bashfully (for it was a quite beautiful blonde) where the Great Hall was. The girl was very nice and said "Don't worry about it Dillon, I got lost my first day here too," Dillon wondered how she knew his name. He decided that she simply must have remembered him from the sorting the night before. He thanked her again when she successfully led them into the bustling Great Hall. Dillon found Hurley and headed towards him.

"What took you so long?" Hurley asked when Dillon sat down next to him at the breakfast table.

"I got distracted," Dillon replied.

"By what?"

"A ghost,"

"Nearly Headless Nick?"

"What?" Dillon raised an eye brow, "No. It's a long story. I just want to get some breakfast in me right now.

"Better hurry firstie," one of the older students across from Dillon said, "Here comes Rundell with the schedules,"

Dillon looked where the older Gryffindor was looking and sure enough there was Professor Rundell coming down the table. Dillon sighed and tried to eat quickly. He didn't want to go to classes on the first day on an empty stomach. It seemed he didn't need to worry about that, because Professor Rundell was making his way very slowly along the table. When Dillon noticed this, he slowed down his eating. Of course then it seemed like Professor Rundell had started to speed up, but Dillon could never be sure.

"How many classes are there?" Dillon asked Hurley as he looked up at the staff table. There were many more teachers than classes that he had heard of.

Hurley just shrugged and said "You know about as much as me, I bet,"

"Mr. Allaway!" Dillon jumped and spun around in his seat to come face to face with the smiling face of Professor Rundell. "Sleep well?"

"Yes sir," Dillon answered.

"Very good! Now, here are your classes. All first years are required to take the same classes," He handed Dillon a sheet of parchment. Looking at the thick paper in his hands, a question struck Dillon.

"Sir?"

"Yes?"

"Why do you guys still use old things, like parchment, and quills and stuff,"

Professor Rundell smiled and answered "Why fix what isn't broken?" He turned to Hurley "And here is your schedule Mr. Street,"

"We have his class first," Hurley noted when Professor Rundell had moved on along the table.

"Then Herbology. What's that? Like Gardening?" Dillon asked.

Hurley shrugged again and looked at his watch. He looked up at Dillon and asked "How long do you think it will take us to find our first class?"

Dillon recalled his morning experience searching for the Great Hall, the largest room in the castle no doubt, and replied, "Maybe we'd better leave now," Hurley agreed with a grin and stood up when they were joined by Albus, Louis and the girl that had been the first to go to her room the night before.

"You guys heading up to Defense Against the Dark Arts?" the girl asked. Both Hurley and Dillon just nodded. For some reason this girl scared the both of them just slightly. "Can we join you?"

"Do any of you know the way?" Dillon managed to stammer out.

"Sorta," Louis said, "My sisters gave us directions,"

Dillon noticed the redhead girl was staring at him. He tried not to stare back, but it was getting harder by the second. When she realized though that Dillon had caught her staring at him she seemed to come back to her senses and said suddenly and rather quickly, "I'm Rose Weasely, by the way. I don't think we've met,"

"I'm Hurley,"

"I'm-"

"-Dillon Allaway, I know," Albus and Louis gave Rose a quick almost scolding look and Rose quickly stopped looking at Dillon and instead started to find her shoes very interesting.

Dillon looked at the 3 people in front of him he knew now were cousins. And from his conversation with the ghost of Fred Weasley this morning, he knew they had been talking about him, but he still had no idea why. It was really starting to bug him. They clearly knew something, or were thinking something and he had no idea what it was. He figured now was as good of time as ever to approach the subject.

"Do you guys know something I don't?" Dillon said quickly.

"About what?" Albus feigned ignorance a little to much to be convincing.

"I don't know!" Dillon said a little too loudly in his frustration. He had forgotten he was in the Great Hall which was still crowded with students.

"Hey, keep it down!" The blonde that had helped Dillon find his way to the Great Hall had appeared behind them. "We are not doing this here. Dillon, we need to talk. But not here. In the common room after dinner alright? Now get to your classes. You'll want to get their early," And she departed.

"That was my oldest sister, by the way," Louis said after an awkward silence.

"Right. Lets just, you know, go to class," Dillon suggested, letting Louis lead they way since he had the clearest idea of where to go.

"What was that all about?" Hurley whispered to Dillon after they had fallen back a few steps from Albus, Louis, and Rose where also appeared to be having a whispered conversation.

"I honestly don't know," Dillon shook his head annoyance. "Apparently all the Weasleys and even the teachers are talking about me. I have no idea about what though," Hurley gave his trademark shrug and they followed the 3 people in front of them in silence.

When they got to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom there were already a few other students hovering around the door. Among them was Adam.

"Hey Dillon, Hurley," Adam greeted them, "How's it going?"

"I dunno," Dillon replied glancing at Albus, Louis, and Rose in front of them. They were still having their own conversation, "It's going, I guess,"

"So you're in Hufflepuff?" Hurley asked though he clearly knew the answer.

"Yup. My mum and dad were in it too, and so was my sister, so it wasn't much of a surprise," Adam told them.

"My mum was in Ravenclaw, and my dad was in Slytherin," Hurley said while they waited for the classroom to open. "So, I really have no clue how I ended up in Gryffindor," They looked towards Dillon for his input on the subject.

"Uh, muggleborn," Dillon reminded them. And then suddenly Dillon's eyes got wide as a crazy thought struck him. Maybe all these Weasleys knew who is father was! He didn't look like his mother, so he had to look at least a bit like whoever his father was. He thought about all the people the living Fred Weasley had pointed out as being his cousins and how many of them had red hair like him, or his blue eyes. The idea started making more and more sense and his head snapped in the direction of the two Weasleys and Potter up ahead of him. They had been looking back at him and turned away quickly when he looked at them.

"Earth to Dillon," Adam said waving a hand in front of Dillon's face.

"Sorry, I was just thinking,"

"Oh no, we got ourself a thinker," Hurley mocked giving Dillon a nudge trying to ground him back into reality.

"Actually I'm pretty new at the whole thinking game," Dillon said while still trying to gather his thoughts. The entire idea that he could be surrounded by his family right now seemed impossible. He was trying to find as many flaws in the idea as possible.

"Well, you've been in school at least. You got to have some sort of advantage to us. This is only our first time," Adam said.

"Yeah, but muggle schools are mostly way different than Hogwarts. I'm just as new at this as you are," Dillon assured them.

"Sorry I'm late!" Professor Rundell came skidding in front of the classroom door, grabbing onto the door frame to stop him from going any farther in his rush. He finally steadied himself just as the bell rang signaling the beginning of the first class of the new year. "Promise I won't do this everyday," he unlocked the door with a wave of his wand and motioned everyone in. "Take a seat everywhere, no seating chart here,"

Dillon sat at a table in the middle of the room with Adam, Hurley, and another Hufflepuff boy Adam introduced as Brody Willis. When the whole glass got settled in and seated, Professor Rundell grinned at the first years.

"Well, welcome! Are you all excited to be here?" Professor Rundell was met with murmuring response. "Well, this is Defense Against the Dark Arts. You will learn how to defend yourself against the dark things in the world, of which there are still many. While the greatest threat we have ever faced may be gone, there is always something else in this world waiting to replace it. Whether this class was still crucial to a students learning curriculum has been debated in the past, and let me assure you, it is one of the most important classes you will ever take. Not to take away from the importance of your other classes, of course," He added, a smirk on his face. "So first off, I don't think I can properly teach you all, without properly knowing you all. So we will start with an exercise to get to know each other better. Now, I know I told you all to take a seat, but will you all stand up a moment and come up here to the front of the class?" The class did as they were were told and when everyone was standing up by Professor Rundell's desk, he waved his wand and all the desks moved against the wall and all the chairs organized themselves into a circle. "Ok, you can all take a seat again,"

Professor Rundell took a seat in the circle also and watched everyone else find a seat. Dillon wasn't looking forward to what was coming. He had always hated these 'get-to-know-you-' activities at his old schools, he doubted these would be any different.

"Alright, now, when this orb stops above you," He jabbed his wand into the air and a glowing ball appeared," I want you to tell us your name, and a little about yourself. I'll start. My name is Terrence Rundell, I have 3 sister's, all younger, and I enjoy all sorts of card games and board games," He smiled around at the room as if to say 'see, not that hard.' The glowing orb vibrated and began to rotate above everyone's head. Finally it stopped above Adam's Hufflepuff friend, Brody Willis.

Brody looked up at the orb as though it were a friend that had just back stabbed him. When he noticed everyone was looking at him, he sighed in resignation and introduced himself. "Uh, hi. My name is Brody Willis. I have one younger brother named Sebastian. And, I like, er, stuff," he finished lamely with the laughs of some students. Professor Rundell thanked Brody and the orb moved around. Each time Dillon crossed his fingers that it wouldn't land on him. He knew he should be hoping that it did land on him so he could get it done and over with, but he still didn't want to.

This time the orb landed on the redhead Rose Weasley. Dillon couldn't quell the thoughts that her nose looked an awfully lot like his. He was pretty positive he was imagining it though just because of his current train of thought, which was still on his possible family. Rose, oblivious to Dillon's thoughts, began to introduce herself. "Hi, I'm Rose Weasley. I have one little brother, Hugo. I enjoy a lot of activities such as reading, and learning new things," Dillon saw Albus and Louis roll their eyes. Albus snapped to attention though when the glowing ball jumped from Rose's head to his head. He scowled at it.

"Go on Mr. Potter," Professor Rundell encouraged when Albus just continued to stare at the ball. Albus sighed.

"Well, I'm Albus Potter. I got an older brother named James, and a little sister named Lily. I like Quidditch," Albus crossed his arms and looked back up at the ball, waiting for it to move. When it did, It landed on 2 people Dillon had never talked to next, and then landed on Dillon. All eye's were upon him.

"My name is Dillon Allaway. I'm an only child and I like animals and sports" Dillon said trying to think of something more interesting to say about himself. Before he could think of something possibly to add though, the ball moved on, landing on a jumpy black haired girl.

A couple turns later the ball stopped above the blonde head of Louis. He said in a rather bored tone, "My name is Louis Weasley. I two older sisters, Victiore and Dominique. I like traveling,"

"Thank you Mr. Weasley," Professor Rundell. A few jumps later and it landed on Adam.

"'Sup? I'm Adam Carther, I have an older sister, Carly. I like drawing, art and stuff you know," Adam said confidently. Professor Rundell thanked him and the ball jumped to the remaining students in turn. When everyone had introduced themselves Professor Rundell vanished the bouncing ball and stood up.

"Thank you all very much. Now don't we feel like we know each other a little bit better? Well, now let's get started with the actual class shall we? Please come and stand up here by my desk again a moment," with a wave of his wand the desks and chairs went to their original positions and everyone sat back where they had been in the beginning of class. "Ok. Now, I think we'll do something easy for today. Please take out your books and read the introductory chapter, relax, it's only a page and a half, and just simply right me a summary of the chapter, however long you see fit. After that is done, you may have the rest of the class time to get to know each other better though, so long as the noise level stays down. You don't mind if I play a bit of music do you?" He smiled as a there were a couple people who responded 'no' and he went to a stand by the window where was looked like an ancient record player stood and tapped it with his wand causing some upbeat almost rock-sounding music coming through. Apparently this was a popular wizard song because a few people made approving remarks to their neighbors as they took out their books.

Dillon made quick work of the assignment, as did everyone else, and soon he was turning his paper, no parchment, into the bin on Professor Rundell's desk.

"I hope everyday is that easy," Hurley said happily.

"I hear Charms is really tough," Brody said.

"We don't have that until Wednesday," Hurley said.

"We got it tomorrow," Adam said pointing to him and Brody.

Dillon was barely listening. He was staring at the table diagonal from them. The table that held Albus, Louis, Rose, and a Hufflepuff girl Dillon was pretty sure he remembered being named Holly. From the angle he was at to them, he got a decent view if any of them turned in to the left for whatever reason. He didn't know what he was looking for, but he was sure that if he looked long enough, he would find whatever it was he was looking for. But of course, he couldn't look forever. Eventually one of them turned to look at him, and he would quickly look away. He was pretty sure they were looking back at him more than normal as well. But again, he had the feeling he was just being paranoid because now that the thought had occurred to him, he found himself desperately wanting it to be true. He didn't even understand it. Where did this urge for more family come from? He had always been perfectly happy with the family he had. However, the idea of a much bigger family was suddenly so appealing.

"Dillon, what are you doing?"

"What?" Dillon was brought back to earth once again. The 3 other people at his table were staring at him.

"Oh, I get it. He's got a crush on Rose," Hurley teased. Dillon involuntarily gave a disgusted face because already in his mind, she was his cousin. Then it struck him, maybe even his sister!

"No way!" was all he manged to get out causing his table mates to laugh out loud.

"I wouldn't blame you mate," Adam said softly glancing at the red head.

"That's just...no. She's not my type," Dillon told them.

The matter could not be debated more at the moment though because the bell rang, dismissing the class. Dillon realized he would have to be in the same classroom as Albus, Louis, and Rose all day. He hoped he wasn't required to do much work, because he was going to be throughly distracted.


End file.
